Thiago Silva’s agent has talked up a potential move to Chelsea after claiming the defender will not sign a new deal with PSG.

The 32-year-old is regarded as one of the best central defenders in world football, having joined the Parisiens from AC Milan in 2012 and served Brazil with distinction.

Silva’s current contract expires in the summer and his representative Paulo Tonietto has been quoted by the Evening Standard as telling Sport Witness: “Chelsea are a big club. And the English league is the best in the world.

“We’re not negotiating a new contract, let’s see what happens before December. Thiago’s deal ends on June 30th 2017 if PSG don’t qualify for the Champions League. Everything is possible in football.”

Antonio Conte signed David Luiz from PSG in August but is still determined to strengthen his defensive options further.

Zinedine Zidane has lifted the lid on Real Madrid’s failed pursuit of Paul Pogba – revealing they did hold talks with the man who ended up at Manchester United for a world-record fee.

“It could have happened,” Zidane told French radio station RMC. “There were conversations (to sign him) but it didn’t go ahead.”

A UEFA transfer ban means Zidane will not now be able to add to his ranks until January 2018 but the Real boss says he is happy with the squad at his disposal.

“We got back (Alvaro) Morata, (Fabio) Coentrao and (Marco) Asensio. Morata can cover Karim’s (Karim Benzema) position and Asensio can cover Ronaldo’s. The idea was to duplicate all the positions.”

nce his move to Manchester Pogba’s form has been the subject of much debate.

In his eight games played so far since returning to the Red Devils Pogba has scored one goal and registered no assists.

It has been widely questioned whether this is the type of return that should be expected from a player who has both played in the Premier League before and is also the most highly valued footballer on the planet.

Radja Nainggolan has signed a new deal with Roma, keeping him at the club until June 2020, it was announced on Thursday evening.

There was no fanfare in announcing the new contract – done so through the release of the Serie A side’s annual financial results statement – after the midfielder was linked to a Chelsea move during the summer.
The Belgium international was under contract with the Giallorossi until June 2018.

As per the statement, Nainggolan is now tied to Roma until June 30 2020.

Nainggolan was heavily linked with a move to Premier League side Chelsea over the summer but in the end he stayed with the club and has now committed his long term future to the side.

So far this season Roma have won four, drawn one and lost two of their opening seven matches in Serie A and they sit in third in the table, behind champions Juventus and Napoli.

Leandro Castan also extended his contract to June 2019, despite currently being on loan at Torino.

Southampton’s club record signing Sofiane Boufal has taken part in full training after overcoming a knee injury that has seen him sidelined since his arrival in the summer.

The 23-year-old has not yet featured in Claude Puel’s team since his reported £16m transfer from Lille at the end of August, but his fitness has improved.

“I am very, very happy to be back in training,” he told the club’s official website. “It’s a moment that I’ve been waiting for. I’ve been working really hard to get back to this point today, so it is very satisfying to get back out on the training pitch with the rest of the group.

“It will take time, as this is just my first training session. I’ve got a fortnight now to really work with the group and the manager, and after that we will see how things are going as to when the first match will be for me.”

“I feel very good. As I say, I have worked really well with the physios and the physical trainers, and today I feel good, I feel fresh, I feel strong and I am happy to be back out on the pitch.”

Meet Queer Sister Wisdom, The Singer With A Larger Than Life Vocals

On the occasion of the release of her second record, Mr. John featuring folk singer, Johnny Drille, queer singer, Sister Wisdom talks about the overwhelming validation she’s received from industry heads, records that have had huge influence on her, and why she choose the name ”Sister Wisdom.

The Computer and Information Science graduate had her first event last year at the International Music Concert which was held at Loveworld Convocation Arena.

The singer whose love for music predates her university spell at Lead City University, Ibadan has graced various stages and platforms with stars like Sinach, Frank Edwards, Eben, Jadhiel and Joe Praize.

When I talk to people about you, most find the name Sister Wisdom to be weird. Tell us what inspired the choice of name.

Yes!! I love weird, I love being different, I love having an identity, I love being unique. I get the same look from people when I tell them my artist name, so I am pretty much use to it now.

The inspiration was out of being different basically.

What excites you right now musically?

Right now the kind of sounds I’m hearing from all over the world and artists interpretation especially in Nigeria is amazing.

You just see how God has blessed alot of people with unique abilities and most times I ask myself if i were the one would I interpret the sound the same way? The beauty in diversity.

How is it like being validated by Cobhams Asuquo, one of the biggest talent in Nigerian music industry?

A friend called me late at night, he was like ”are you sleeping? Cobhams just tweeted about your song”. I was like ”what?” Quickly checked Twitter to see for myself, it was an awesome feeling.

I had a bit of doubt about the song because I felt it was not the typical but just had to put it out anyways.

The reception had been amazing, the radio stations had showed lots of love, it’s currently No1 on Holy Holla, No3 on Cobhams Top 12, Song of the month in a lot of stations and in the UK(Bolton 96.5FM).

The validation coming from Cobhams, Praiz,Aunty Winning(T.W.O),Abi Idowu(Bolton 96.5FM), Protek,Password and especially from the public had just made me more determined to put out great records.

I honestly respect that as an artiste you make music that are truly artistic and quite challenging. It feels like you more interested in churning out sounds that are satisfying for you

I love music and I’m big on music coming out right and perfect but trust me I like experimenting, we just getting started so you are going to get all sorts of sounds from me but embedding my style into them.

I grew up with everything music, my parents loves music. My dad bought all kinds of record from reggae, C & S praise, R & B, Fuji to everything music he was that in love with music which influenced me alot. My mum is a worship/gospel artist so you see a fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree smiles

I understand you and Johnny Drille have a couple of materials in works. What is like working with the folk singer?

Johnny Drille is amazing, I learnt alot from him, his genre is unique and yes we do have a couple of works together. His personality just made it easy for us to work. He totally understand my sound. He’s a great guy!

Can you explain a bit about the idea of ”Mr John”

Mr John is like a converse as you listen different interpretations comes to different people in fact I have heard amazing analysis of the song that I never thought of. But basically Mr John simply spotlights the idea of ‘searching’ for peace/love/fulfillment anything great mostly in the wrong places, whereas the real deal is just right in front of you but never taking notice.

Tell us about your music creation process.

The chorus might come to me first or I may just be singing in gibberish and something solid comes out of it (laughs)

Share with us which you enjoy doing more, writing music or recording.

I love both really. The part that is always a drag is performing, facing the camera or the crowd. It always needs special routine to get me into that zone. Then feels really weird watching myself, most times I can’t.

What are we to expect from Sister Wisdom?

Awesome stuff! There’s the Episode II of the Mr. John, working on a collaboration with a Kenyan artiste experimenting with some sounds outside Nigeria. The records are all for my upcoming EP.

For N 15,000,000, would you go for three months without washing, brushing your teeth, or using deodorant? Assume you could not explain your reasons to anyone until after the three months is up.

That’s a serious question, but as a Naija lady, you know that #15Million will do alot.

Arsenal have joined Manchester United in the race for Benfica prodigy Goncalo Guedes, The Sun reports today.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger has allegedly been keeping an eye of the Portugal international for a while, with Manchester United sending scouts to watch the youngster in action last weekend.

With two caps for Portugal already to his name, Guedes is rated incredibly highly by the reigning Portuguese champions, and will hold out for more than £50m before allowing the youngster to leave should a club come calling in the transfer window.

The report suggests that Arsenal will look to try and sign Guedes from under the nose of their rivals, with Wenger looking to meet with Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira over the possibility of a future move.

The problem for Arsenal is that Guedes is tied down to Benfica until 2021, and with the new Premier League broadcast deal resulting in clubs demanding more money from English sides in the transfer market, Guedes’s asking price has been set at an eye-watering fee in order to capitalise on the investment Benfica have put into him.

Arsenal have shown interest in Guedes in the past but a €50m valuation put them off a move last January, and after he helped the Lisbon side retain the Portuguese Supa Liga last season to clinch a third consecutive title, his worth is more than ever to the club.

In Lagos, ‘African Voices’ meets jazz icon Lekan Babalola, who is looking to change perceptions of the genre in Nigeria.

The programme learns that Babalola is using his upbringing in a Yoruba community to create an original sound which incorporates his own jazz style.

Babalola explains his love of music and influence of his parents to ‘African Voices’: “What I love most about my job is freedom of expression, that I can express myself… The influence of my parents is very strong, particularly my father. My father was a choir master in this church. My father is from the Muslim tradition; my mother is Church of England.”

It was whilst studying abroad that Babalola discovered his love of music, but also began to look at African culture from a different perspective.

Babalola tells the programme: “In Nigeria, I think we lost our ways in appreciating our own art, our own culture… I think being away from home, and coming across to discover now, the new African culture in the new world, I think that helped me a lot, particularly the African-American culture. I think that helped me a lot, to get closer to my Yoruba culture.”

‘African Voices’ learns that Babalola began working with several musicians, which led to success internationally.

In 2006, Babalola won his first Grammy with Ali Farka Toure on the album ‘In the Heart of the Moon’, and then in 2009 for his work on Cassandra Wilson’s ‘Loverley’.

Babalola reveals to ‘African Voices’ that these awards don’t hold much significance to him, however: “I didn’t go into music for me to become a Grammy award winner. I think the Grammy is something by the wayside.”

‘African Voices’ reveals that Babalola has performed at the International Jazz Festival for the Governor of Lagos, and still finds time to be a practicing IFA priest.

The programme accompanies Babalola to a meeting with his long-time friend Dehinde Harrison, before Babalola reflects on his hopes to make a better Africa.

He tells ‘African Voices’: “The impact I would like to leave on my Africa is I’d like my African people to be happy. To look within, so we don’t look to Europe anymore… The unbroken community, the love. That’s the kind of Africa I want.”

Timm Klose has confirmed Norwich rejected a summer move for the player from Premier League side West Brom.

Klose, 28, only joined Norwich from Wolfsburg on a three-and-a-half-year deal in January, but was linked with a move away in the summer after Alex Neil’s team were relegated to the Championship.

“There were offers, and we looked at the one we received from West Bromwich, but Norwich turned down the offer,” he told Swiss newspaper Neue Zurcher Zeitung.

“I weighed up my options. I did not want to lose my place in the national team without a fight, but it was also clear that it will be difficult to show what I could do at another club.

“The overall package fits. I can live out my passion here. I play football out of passion. I don’t primarily earn my living for the family because my background forces me to do so. I am on the pitch mainly for the emotions.”

Klose scored once in nine appearances for Norwich in the second half of last season.

South African superstar Disc Jockey – DJ Sliqe, puts out another killer track titled “Bay 2” featuring Aka, Yanga and Jr off his soon to be released album InjaYam Vol.1

The smooth track serves as the follow up track for his previously released joint “Mercy (Download mp3 HERE)” which featured Riky Rick, Kwesta, Reason and Thaiwanda.

Sliqe who’s totally geared up for his album InjaYam Vol.1, has also made the album available on iTunes for pre-order. The album contains 14 tracks with features from the likes of Kwesta, Reason, Nadia Nakia, Riky Rick, Aka to mention a few.

​Arsenal failed in a move for Gonzalo Higuain over the summer, Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has confirmed.

The Gunners were among a number of top clubs linked with the prolific Argentine throughout the summer, with De Laurentiis also naming Atletico Madrid as among those to directly approach him over the player.

“We received a request from Arsenal,” he told the London Evening Standard. “Personally I also received a request from Atletico Madrid but they didn’t put enough money on the table.

“We were not ready to sell him – for me Higuain was not for sale. One year earlier I offered another five year contract to Higuain and his brother. ‘I will offer to you x’. It was more money than what he is getting right now from Juventus.”

Arsenal ended up signing Lucas Perez in a bid to solve their problems up front, though Arsene Wenger has ended up moving Alexis Sanchez from out wide to centre forward instead.

Ronald Koeman will demand that Yannick Bolasie at least matches his best ever goals return in the Premier League this season.

NEWCASTLE CHRONICLE

Former Northern Ireland international Keith Gillespie believes that fellow countryman Paddy McNair can be a huge hit at Sunderland, but says he must cement himself to one position.

Rafa Benitez admits it will be “impossible” to keep all 27 members of his Newcastle first-team squad happy – but insists he does not actually want players to be content with being left out of the side.

SUNDERLAND ECHO

Spanish side Espanyol are understood to be keeping tabs on Sunderland’s Tunisian forward Wahbi Khazri.

Sunderland will look to use the international break to get Victor Anichebe closer to a Premier League return.

BIRMINGHAM MAIL

Aston Villa defender Jordan Amavi has revealed that the club’s supporters played a significant part in his reason behind staying at the club this summer.

EXPRESS & STAR

West Brom need to build in January transfer window, says assistant head coach Ben Garner.

Goalkeeper Ben Foster has set sights on finishing his career at West Brom.

HULL DAILY MAIL

Jake Livermore believes Ryan Mason can bring the necessary goals Hull City need to spark a climb up the Premier League once again.

LANCASHIRE TELEGRAPH

Shane Duffy has opened up about the disappointing end to his Blackburn Rovers career, but insists he enjoyed his time at the club.

Burnley full-back Matt Lowton believes the defeat at Leicester City last month could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

LEICESTER MERCURY

Leicester boss Claudio Ranieri has said will be supporting Juventus in the Champions League.

Former Leicester City head of recruitment Steve Walsh has explained how he helped build the club’s Premier League title-winning side.

SOUTH WALES EVENING POST

Bob Bradley has made an instant impact, says Swansea City stalwart Leon Britton.

BOURNEMOUTH ECHO

Artur Boruc currently has no superiors among his fellow Premier League stoppers, according to Bournemouth goalkeeping coach Neil Moss.

Harry Arter claims the support Bournemouth received during their 2-2 draw at Watford was the best since he arrived at Dean Court six years ago.

EVENING GAZETTE

Former Middlesbrough manager Tony Mowbray is confident Boro will beat the drop this season as they continue to adapt to Premier League life.

CROYDON ADVERTISER

Loic Remy has vowed to return “stronger than ever” for Crystal Palace this season.

Crystal Palace assistant boss Keith Millen says midfielder James McArthur is “one of the best” players he’s worked with his managerial career.

THE PINK UN

Timm Klose has confirmed Norwich City rejected a summer move from Premier League side West Brom.

Known for his versatility and influence on Lagos’ lifestyle station City 105.1fm, Adegbenga Oke popularly known as DJ Gunzee is a professional disc jockey, song writer and a live drums enthusiast.

He was nominated as “Best DJ” at the Dynamix Awards, Egba Youth Awards in 2012 and 2013 respectively and also “Best Nigerian DJ” at the 6th Edition of the Nigerian Broadcasters Merit Awards (NBMA) in 2015.

Gunzee says “whenever i’m doing my thing, whether it’s old school or 21st century jams I always want people grooving. If they aren’t, then I’m not doing a good job” and that you can catch on CITYJUMPOFFMIX ON CITY105.1 FM every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday between 2 -3PM and on the CITYCLUBMIX every Saturday 8 – 10PM.

When Gunzee isn’t on radio or isn’t in the studio making music, he’s at a wedding getting people’s groove on which he does PERFECTLY well.

His discography however includes Omo Naija in 2012 and is on the verge on dropping a new single, Spice Up D’Tin feat Cynthia Morgan & Emmy Ace (produced by EX-O). Guaranteed to get you grooving from start to finish. The video is already in the work.

As NINIOLA continues to enjoy a successful year that has seen her put out several Chart topping materials, she is still not slowing down. Following a successful release of JIGI JIGI; NINIOLA is back this time with a Video for the song that got her two Nominations in the coming AFRIMA awards ceremony, J’ETE.

Watch and Enjoy the official video for J’Ete by Niniola below

As NINIOLA continues to enjoy a successful year that has seen her put out several Chart topping materials, she is still not slowing down. Following a successful release of JIGI JIGI; NINIOLA is back this time with a Video for the song that got her two Nominations in the coming AFRIMA awards ceremony, J’ETE.

Watch and Enjoy the official video for J’Ete by Niniola below

It is said that if two wrongs don’t make a right, then try a third. I suspect that a good number of the members of the House of Representatives share this view.

They would find out soon that the third wrong is actually the hangman.

This piece was written by Azu Ishiekwene. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

The House had no business suspending Abdulmumin Jibrin for one day, much less, for one whole legislative year. Yet in desperate pursuit of collective self-survival last week, they set aside common sense, precedence and law and drove what they hoped would be the final nail in Jibrin’s political coffin.

That was a mistake they would regret.

Jibrin is a nuisance, a snitch of the worst kind. But he is also a man on assignment. Constituents in Kuru/Bebeji, who hoped he would make their voices heard and use his position to bring them relief from misery, voted him to the House of Representatives for a second term.

Given his humble beginnings, there was no reason to expect that he would forget where he’s coming from. The former students’ union leader, who made his break by selling his second-hand BMW to publish a book on President Olusegun Obasanjo’s foreign policy and staging the launch in Ghana, knows a thing or two about poverty. Although he had more than a helping hand from former governors Rabiu Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Adamu, he often vowed that he would never forget his constituency – mostly the poor he left behind.

But like politicians who routinely mince their words to make them easier to swallow, Jibrin put himself first. He lived the good life, often driving about in convoys that would make former Governor Peter Obi look like a Boys Scout.

The first time Jibrin’s constituents would hear his voice loud and clear was when he was removed as chairman of the “juicy” appropriation committee. The assignment he was on was mostly for himself.

Had he remained in his post, he would not be singing like a fowl with a broken beak, squawking endlessly about incredible tales of graft and corruption of which he unashamedly admitted being a part of.

The House does not need to give Jibrin a bad name to hang him. He is already hanging by his own tongue and public admission of guilt. The argument that he was suspended for disrespecting the House by refusing to honour the invitation of the Ethics committee is not only insufficient, it cannot stand constitutional test.

Jibrin may be a self-confessed crook, but believe me, his is not only the crook of his constituents, he’s also the crook of a public fed up with the shenanigans of the National Assembly.

As Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila rightly said – though I wonder where he was when the debate about the suspension was going on – there’s no reasonable interpretation of the constitution that gives lawmakers the right to “suspend” any member when constituents have not recalled such a member or the courts have not ruled their election invalid.

The House has conveniently forgotten that it is not its right to discipline its members that is at issue here, but the inalienable right of the constituents who elected him to be represented and to participate fully in the business of government.

We’ve seen this before in 2010, when Dino Melaye and “The Progressives” challenged their suspension and ejection from the House for allegedly disrupting proceedings. On that occasion, the court ruled that the House had trampled on the right to fair hearing of Melaye and co.

In Jibrin’s case the injury to his right to fair hearing is even more grievous. He had gone to court to challenge his trial by ordeal, only for the same House, which by its own rules exclude itself from matters before the court, to punish him for not appearing before its committee over the same matter in court.

The House is obviously concerned about its reputation, or more specifically, about airing its dirty laundry publicly. But there’s really no laundry to air. Year after year of bitter squabbles over allowances, perks and privileges, our lawmakers have stripped themselves in the public glare, without shame and without remorse, leaving nothing but a grotesque sense of entitlement.

We have become used to seeing them the way they are, warts and all.

Jibrin has challenged the leadership of the House to release the details of its budget for 2016. That is the crux of the matter. The answer is not to throw him out of the House and hope that that will silence him once and for all. Instead, the House should publish its current budget – or the media should demand it – to show Jibrin’s constituents that he is unfit to retain his seat.

The House cannot assume the power to punish, as it applies to this case, by default.

There’s a bigger danger in all of this. The way the matter is going, the public will get so wrapped up in the fine points of law that the fraud, which neither Jibrin nor the House leadership has so far denied, will slip through the cracks.

Whatever the House decides to do with Jibrin, and trust me there’s not much they can do about him, citizens and budget monitoring groups like BudgIT, must insist that the National Assembly should publish its 2016 budget and be prepared to go the whole hog – including going to court under the FOI Act – to make it happen.

If we let politicians, they would at best treat this as another circus, or at worst as a family affair. With another budget cycle just around the corner, this scandal would be a terrible thing to waste.

Azu Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview and member of the Board of the Paris-based Global Editors Network.

This piece was written by Azu Ishiekwene. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

It is said that if two wrongs don’t make a right, then try a third. I suspect that a good number of the members of the House of Representatives share this view.

They would find out soon that the third wrong is actually the hangman.

This piece was written by Azu Ishiekwene. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

The House had no business suspending Abdulmumin Jibrin for one day, much less, for one whole legislative year. Yet in desperate pursuit of collective self-survival last week, they set aside common sense, precedence and law and drove what they hoped would be the final nail in Jibrin’s political coffin.

That was a mistake they would regret.

Jibrin is a nuisance, a snitch of the worst kind. But he is also a man on assignment. Constituents in Kuru/Bebeji, who hoped he would make their voices heard and use his position to bring them relief from misery, voted him to the House of Representatives for a second term.

Given his humble beginnings, there was no reason to expect that he would forget where he’s coming from. The former students’ union leader, who made his break by selling his second-hand BMW to publish a book on President Olusegun Obasanjo’s foreign policy and staging the launch in Ghana, knows a thing or two about poverty. Although he had more than a helping hand from former governors Rabiu Kwankwaso and Abdullahi Adamu, he often vowed that he would never forget his constituency – mostly the poor he left behind.

But like politicians who routinely mince their words to make them easier to swallow, Jibrin put himself first. He lived the good life, often driving about in convoys that would make former Governor Peter Obi look like a Boys Scout.

The first time Jibrin’s constituents would hear his voice loud and clear was when he was removed as chairman of the “juicy” appropriation committee. The assignment he was on was mostly for himself.

Had he remained in his post, he would not be singing like a fowl with a broken beak, squawking endlessly about incredible tales of graft and corruption of which he unashamedly admitted being a part of.

The House does not need to give Jibrin a bad name to hang him. He is already hanging by his own tongue and public admission of guilt. The argument that he was suspended for disrespecting the House by refusing to honour the invitation of the Ethics committee is not only insufficient, it cannot stand constitutional test.

Jibrin may be a self-confessed crook, but believe me, his is not only the crook of his constituents, he’s also the crook of a public fed up with the shenanigans of the National Assembly.

As Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila rightly said – though I wonder where he was when the debate about the suspension was going on – there’s no reasonable interpretation of the constitution that gives lawmakers the right to “suspend” any member when constituents have not recalled such a member or the courts have not ruled their election invalid.

The House has conveniently forgotten that it is not its right to discipline its members that is at issue here, but the inalienable right of the constituents who elected him to be represented and to participate fully in the business of government.

We’ve seen this before in 2010, when Dino Melaye and “The Progressives” challenged their suspension and ejection from the House for allegedly disrupting proceedings. On that occasion, the court ruled that the House had trampled on the right to fair hearing of Melaye and co.

In Jibrin’s case the injury to his right to fair hearing is even more grievous. He had gone to court to challenge his trial by ordeal, only for the same House, which by its own rules exclude itself from matters before the court, to punish him for not appearing before its committee over the same matter in court.

The House is obviously concerned about its reputation, or more specifically, about airing its dirty laundry publicly. But there’s really no laundry to air. Year after year of bitter squabbles over allowances, perks and privileges, our lawmakers have stripped themselves in the public glare, without shame and without remorse, leaving nothing but a grotesque sense of entitlement.

We have become used to seeing them the way they are, warts and all.

Jibrin has challenged the leadership of the House to release the details of its budget for 2016. That is the crux of the matter. The answer is not to throw him out of the House and hope that that will silence him once and for all. Instead, the House should publish its current budget – or the media should demand it – to show Jibrin’s constituents that he is unfit to retain his seat.

The House cannot assume the power to punish, as it applies to this case, by default.

There’s a bigger danger in all of this. The way the matter is going, the public will get so wrapped up in the fine points of law that the fraud, which neither Jibrin nor the House leadership has so far denied, will slip through the cracks.

Whatever the House decides to do with Jibrin, and trust me there’s not much they can do about him, citizens and budget monitoring groups like BudgIT, must insist that the National Assembly should publish its 2016 budget and be prepared to go the whole hog – including going to court under the FOI Act – to make it happen.

If we let politicians, they would at best treat this as another circus, or at worst as a family affair. With another budget cycle just around the corner, this scandal would be a terrible thing to waste.

Azu Ishiekwene is the MD/Editor-In-Chief of The Interview and member of the Board of the Paris-based Global Editors Network.

This piece was written by Azu Ishiekwene. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

A survey ‘painstakingly’ carried out by the Economic Confidential, using computed and analyzed details as approved by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on preferred first university of choice in 2016, showed that Unilorin had the highest student-applicants of 103,238 students, with male student-applicants of 51,082 and female student-applicants of 52,156.

Using the report as gathered from JAMB, the Economical Confidential inferred that applicants seeking admission into universities considered academic stability, popularity, affordability, available facilities and quality of lecturers as part of their check-list before making choices in their applications.

In a list of 40 federal Universities in the country, Unilorin was rated number one followed by the University of Benin, with student-applicants of 81,363 made up of 39,729 of male applicants and female applicants of 41,571.

Ahmadu Bello University, Northwest Nigeria is third in the ranking while the fourth and the fifth are University of Nigeria Nsukka and Bayero University, Kano both South-East and North-West Nigeria respectively.

Speaking on the development to Premium Times, JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, disclosed that the students’ checklist as outlined in the report was not determined by the Board.

He said: “JAMB has no way of determining these factors from information available to us through the frequency of schools chosen by Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) candidates.”

“What we do each year, is to roll out data on the institutions with the highest number of applicants.

“For some years now, the University of Ilorin has been topping that chart, this does not mean that the school is the best in the country. It just shows students’ preferences.”

“We only have access to the number of students who choose these schools. We cannot determine why they do so. UTME candidates are not asked why they choose schools.”

“For instance, if we have 1.6 million candidates applying through JAMB and 120,000 candidates choose University of Ilorin as first choice, automatically it becomes the most popular choice for that year, that is how we arrive at our data.”

As said by the spokesperson of JAMB, it remains unclear why applicants prefer the Kwara-based federal university ahead of others, but what remains clear is that:

We can’t wait for Coke Studio 4 to premiere! From the little we have seen online, we are sure the show would be a smash hit!

Just like everyone else that has seen the new collaborations this season on the show, we are looking forward to the new songs that will drop from Africa’s biggest artistes.

It is sure going to be exciting to see the combination of various genre and styles of music

One of the songs we are really looking forward to is the collabo between Nigeria’s reggae/dancehall artiste Patoranking and Tanzania’s Vanessa Mdee, (who is also known as VeeMoney).

Both artists have a record of dropping ‘dope’ songs in the past, as well as earning a good place in the heart of their fans.

So what’s it going to be like on Coke Studio for them? We’re waiting!

We remember, last season on Coke Studio, Vee Money’s collabo with TuFace got over a million views, while Patoranking landslide success with his steaming hot “Girlie o” can also not be forgotten.

The song will be produced by South African house music producer, DJ Maphorisa who co-produced Drakes smash hit song one dance.

From what we have gathered, this season Coke Studio 4 will have a line-up of over 40 of Africa’s best artistes including Nigerian super stars Flavour, Patoranking, TuFace (also known as 2Baba), Waje, Falz, Kiss Daniel, Cynthia Morgan, Yemi Alade and Simi.

Lagos State Police Command have arrested a middle aged woman for allegedly planning to murder her husband.

The woman, who is said to be a resident in the Lekki area of the state pid the sum of N600,000 to suspected assassins to help her end her husband’s life.

Commissioner of Police for the State command, Fatai Owoseni confirmed the incident, adding that the woman was among 25 suspected criminals arrested by the command in two weeks.

Commissioner Owoseni refused to disclose the identity of the woman, saying it would jeopardize investigation, but confirmed that one of the hired assassin had confessed to the crime.

“He said that the woman paid him N600 ,000 to eliminate her husband. We are currently on the trail of the assassins,” he said, explaining that the woman was picked up after a suspect was arrested and he named her as the person who contracted him to kill her husband.

According to him, the suspect and the woman would be charged to the court soon.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) on Thursday called on the National Assembly to hasten the law prescribing death penalty for kidnappers.

The National President of the Union, Mr. Michael Alogba-Olukoya, said this on Thursday after two teachers and four pupils were abducted from the Lagos Junior Model College in Epe. He described the development as ‘a bad omen’ and called on the government to go hard on kidnappers.

“It is a bad omen and the security operatives should swing into action. We believe in the ability of the Lagos State Governor, Akinwumi Ambode, to secure the release of the pupils, their teacher and the vice-principal.

“Let us prescribe the death penalty for kidnappers. If anyone attempts kidnapping, let the person be killed. We have to go a little bit harsh on them. Yesterday, it was Kaduna and today it is Lagos. Now that bunkering and robbery are no longer viable, criminals have resorted to kidnapping. The Nigerian government has to rise to the occasion.”

Five gunmen and a woman had invaded the Lagos Junior Model College as they were rounding up the morning assembly. Five of the kidnappers had guns while the sixth member held a cutlass. They kidnapped six victims, including the Vice-Principal, Mr. A.O. Oyesola; the English Language/Civil Education teacher, Mr. Lukman Oyerinde; and four Junior Secondary School 1 pupils.

Sadiq Adegbite, a student of Junior High School, Ogudu, Lagos, was on Thursday arraigned before an Ogudu Magistrates’ Court in the state, for allegedly stealing N200 from a fellow student and also using charm to harass other colleagues.

The accused, an 18-year-old, is facing a three-count charge of conspiracy, stealing and disorderly conduct.